I wonder about BMI being a good measure? Friday night an arena football game was on, they mentioned a 5'8" receiver whose weight is 185 lbs. I don't think he's overweight. He probably has alot of muscle.

My recommended body fat is 15%, not too long ago I got down to 14.5% body fat, at that time my weight was 175, not 135 like it was in high school. Although I'd like to see some results on the scale, my goal is mostly to control what I can. So my top goal is to keep working out 5 days a week.

I can swim 100 yards in 1:20, 200 yards in 3:08.
100 yard breaststroke in 2:04.
(These are all from a push start, no racing dive, and at a comfortable pace).

Based on that the website suggested that I swim 1800 yards. Part of this included swimming 100s with 1:50 sendoff times. I can't do that yet. I used 2:30 second sendoff times and I only did 1200 yards.

Click to expand...

It's interesting to look back and see this. It's from early June. I haven't timed my 100 recently, but I now do a 200 in 2:42 and 100 yard breaststroke in 1:40, that's not at all fast, but it's faster than it used to be!

Then I was going only 1200 yards? Now I always do at least 2000. So something good has happened at least. If I keep working at it and making the workouts harder I really think some weight should come off by Halloween.

Friday weigh in - 196.0 - essentially no change from last week. But still losing inches. All of my trousers are a little looser. The last of my "fat" clothes go to ARC on Thursday. I had good workouts all week, maybe too good because my legs were dead last night. I had almost no movement on the court. I skipped my workout this morning. A recovery day may help.

No. Without looking back I think my July 1 goal was 190 - 195. I still weigh 210.

I pretty much gave up dieting when I went to Indian Wells and never started back up. I'm trying to work hard on a half dozen static gymnastic skills and trying to run ~20 miles / week and play tennis a few times a week as well as do lots of projects around the house.

All of that takes energy. While dieting, you will always be eating a deficit and lacking the energy necessary to do all these things (well).

Generally, I simply hate to diet / lose weight in the summer. It is much easier for me when the weather turns cold. I'll probably start again sometime in October and try to hit 195 or so this winter.

I've been exercising, (mostly swimming), for 8 weeks. That $^#% scale is always at 198! Wednesday, after the workout I noticed it was just a little under the 198 mark, I took a closer look, it was under 196, it read 195! Today it said 191, I know that some of that was because I was wearing crocs instead of sneakers, but still, other times I was wearing crocs and it still wasn't under 198, now it says 191.

Now that my weight is changing in the right direction I hope to be in the 180s soon.

I wonder about BMI being a good measure? Friday night an arena football game was on, they mentioned a 5'8" receiver whose weight is 185 lbs. I don't think he's overweight. He probably has alot of muscle.

My recommended body fat is 15%, not too long ago I got down to 14.5% body fat, at that time my weight was 175, not 135 like it was in high school. Although I'd like to see some results on the scale, my goal is mostly to control what I can. So my top goal is to keep working out 5 days a week.

Click to expand...

bmi isnt really a good measure once you start to gain muscle. i remember hearing that there is some way/chart that uses calipers to measure your body fat and gives feedback. i'd go with mav and the mirror part though.

bmi isnt really a good measure once you start to gain muscle. i remember hearing that there is some way/chart that uses calipers to measure your body fat and gives feedback.

Click to expand...

The best way is to use a dunk machine. In this way you measure your weight for your mass, muscle has less mass to they can calculate your body fat percentage. I don't like the calipers because they would give me a much higher number than the dunk machine would. But the dunk machine had a fee and the calipers don't. I don't have access to a dunk machine anymore, so the only consolation I had while my weight plateaued was the fact that my belt had gone in a notch.

218 lbs., as of today. My goal is to reach 215 by the end of July. I'm incorporating more cardio into my routine (rather than just playing tennis a couple of times per week.) My body has adjusted to the dietary changes (smaller portions, fewer sodas, etc.)...no more headaches or walking around feeling hungry all day. Final goal is to reach 205-208 by the end of September.

I might aswell add something to this thread. Im at 236 (120 kg) now and 6'2 tall. BMI at 34 at the time. I've been struggling with my weight for around 10 years now (29 y/o). I play tennis for fun and i think its a good addition to my workout. I try to do cardio a few times a week, same thing with weight lifting.
However, my biggest challange will be my eating. Staying off fastfood and sweets is my real battle.
Ive set a target weight at 95 kg (210 lbs). Regarding my history with going up and down, I wont put a timelimit to reach my target weight. The change have to come by changing my lifestyle. As a physiotherapy student, Im way to heavy and i dont think its professionally representable as a future Physiotherapist.

I weigh 160lbs right now, looking to cut off 10 pounds of fat, and maybe add some muscle. I don't really have a workout routine or anything, but I can lift weights and run whenever. Goal: By march 2012, so 3 set matches are easier.

I'm 6'3" and just turned 39 - I got down from 215lb to 190lb in the first 3 months and have been steady at that weight for the last 5 months.
I found I didn't want to get too skinny for my height - plus, losing too much weight makes you look older, so Im just hitting the weights 3-4 times a week with a couple of 15km bike-rides or 6km runs in-between.

Diet: I drastically cut down things like potatoes, red wine, cheese, cakes, sweets, chocolate, beer and just got into a 'lifestyle-change' habit...

You are greatly misinformed about low carb diets. IMO, you should keep your misinformation to yourself until you actually understand the science behind them. I will GUARANTEE I have both read and written more scientific peer-reviewed research than you have. Don't go around making ignorant comments about things you clearly do not understand--it only makes you look foolish. Go look up the term gluconeogenesis--it will rock your little world I'll bet. Did you even know the body did that?

By the way your little "calculation" fails to take into account the water loss which is common on low carb diets as your body sheds itself of gylcogen which retains water. Also, my body fat numbers are just estimates taking with an inexpensive Slimguide caliper. Finally, if I am suffering so badly from my low carb diet, why am I playing the best tennis of my life at age 52? Why were all of my recent blood work profile markers (cholesterol, HDL, LDL, triglycerides, blood glucose) in the excellent range?

My numbers are a little different. In truth, I went from 248 to 209 (I rounded off). I did start at 27.5% and ended up at 16.5%. I lost 39 pounds total of which ~6 pounds were LBM or about 15% was LBM loss.

Why is my LBM loss lower? Probably because my initial bodyfat test was more accurate is my guess. Other methods had me closer to 23% (online calculators, bodyfat bathroom scale, etc). That would have started me 10 pounds LBM higher, resulting in a 40% LBM loss.

You are greatly misinformed about low carb diets. IMO, you should keep your misinformation to yourself until you actually understand the science behind them. I will GUARANTEE I have both read and written more scientific peer-reviewed research than you have. Don't go around making ignorant comments about things you clearly do not understand--it only makes you look foolish. Go look up the term gluconeogenesis--it will rock your little world I'll bet. Did you even know the body did that?

By the way your little "calculation" fails to take into account the water loss which is common on low carb diets as your body sheds itself of gylcogen which retains water. Also, my body fat numbers are just estimates taking with an inexpensive Slimguide caliper. Finally, if I am suffering so badly from my low carb diet, why am I playing the best tennis of my life at age 52? Why were all of my recent blood work profile markers (cholesterol, HDL, LDL, triglycerides, blood glucose) in the excellent range?

Click to expand...

Yes, i know water loss is common on low carb. You suppose to weigh with water. That's the FINAL answer for correct weight loss.

you know that atkins diets only let you get 20 grams a day. then added 5 grams.

No bread or pasta, fruits, vegetables, or juice.

Of course you will lose weight if you restrict an entire nutrition group.

You are dramatically decreasing the amount of calories you're putting into your body.

But fruits and vegetables also enhance feeling of fullness because of their naturally high water and fiber content and provide your body with healthy fiber, folate, and other heart protecting, brain-boosting, libido-lifting, mood-enchancing, essential vitamins and nutrients. You are cutting those out. Plus you are making your body crave. Restricting foods will only make you crave them more and more. end up binging instead later.

My host mom was on low-carb diet (she was strong and well controlled her diet) she lost 100 lbs i think..

but in 3-6 months she gained 50lbs easily.

she did not eat like monster after diet.

she was controlling her kilo-calories intake, still she was gaining weight..

And i have seen what she's eating... I pity her..

all effort she put on, soon or later would be gone.

you might be playing better, because of poor eating habit in the past.

But you won't last long in the match.

also i respect you in every way, you lived longer than me you might know more than me. I did not want to be rude. I just have seen people thought they were succeeded in diet. but later on it came back. I feel really bad about them. But this is what i have seen and hear from books / internet / article / nutrition specialist.

Yes, i know water loss is common on low carb. You suppose to weigh with water. That's the FINAL answer for correct weight loss.

you know that atkins diets only let you get 20 grams a day. then added 5 grams.

No bread or pasta, fruits, vegetables, or juice.

Of course you will lose weight if you restrict an entire nutrition group.

You are dramatically decreasing the amount of calories you're putting into your body.

But fruits and vegetables also enhance feeling of fullness because of their naturally high water and fiber content and provide your body with healthy fiber, folate, and other heart protecting, brain-boosting, libido-lifting, mood-enchancing, essential vitamins and nutrients. You are cutting those out. Plus you are making your body crave. Restricting foods will only make you crave them more and more. end up binging instead later.

My host mom was on low-carb diet (she was strong and well controlled her diet) she lost 100 lbs i think..

but in 3-6 months she gained 50lbs easily.

she did not eat like monster after diet.

she was controlling her kilo-calories intake, still she was gaining weight..

And i have seen what she's eating... I pity her..

all effort she put on, soon or later would be gone.

you might be playing better, because of poor eating habit in the past.

But you won't last long in the match.

also i respect you in every way, you lived longer than me you might know more than me. I did not want to be rude. I just have seen people thought they were succeeded in diet. but later on it came back. I feel really bad about them. But this is what i have seen and hear from books / internet / article / nutrition specialist.

Click to expand...

God you are ignorant. So much so that it hardly seems worth debating the issue with you but I'm going to try.

Again, you are either ignorant or misinformed about the Atkins diet. I don't do Atkins but I know enough about it to know you have some big misconceptions about it. First even in its MOST restrictive phase in terms of CHO intake called Induction, you are supposed to eat 20 NET grams (add back fiber) and you are not prohibited from eating fruits and vegetables. In fact the diet recommends that all your carbs come from these sources during Induction. Do you have any idea that 20 net grams of CHO from broccoli is about 5 cups which is one hell of lot more than most people who aren't doing Atkins eat in a day. Induction only lasts two weeks anyway, then you can add back more carbs if you feel like it.

You are not dramatically decreasing the amount of calories you put in your body - again you are completely ignorant or misinformed.

Your body has zero "need" for carbs the way it needs protein or fat. Specifically there are no deficiency diseases associated with low levels of CHO, however, there are deficiency diseases associated with both low levels of protein for the essential amino acids, and for fats. That should tell you something, eh?

I had a medical exam in July after starting the diet in March.

None of those things you listed (nice strawman by the way) have been shown to be associated with low carb dieting. Please cite peer-reviewed studies and not just some web site with an anonymous author to back up your claims or they are just so much more hot air from you.

Seriously, you have no idea about me and to make claims about me and how I play based on nothing more than your misguided and incorrect assumptions is just more arrogant ignorant crap from you.

Your host mom like most people who gain the weight back did so after STOPPING her low carb diet. How can you blame the diet for her gaining the weight back? If she'd stayed on it, she'd still be 100 pounds lighter.

I really think now that I'm debating with a teenager. Is that correct? No offense to teenagers because I have two of my own who are pretty smart but how about doing some actual research on a topic before showing your ignorance about it in front of thousands of people on the internet?

God you are ignorant. So much so that it hardly seems worth debating the issue with you but I'm going to try.

Again, you are either ignorant or misinformed about the Atkins diet. I don't do Atkins but I know enough about it to know you are totally wrong about it. First even in its MOST restrictive phase in terms of CHO intake called Induction, you are supposed to eat 20 NET grams (add back fiber) and you are not prohibited from eating fruits and vegetables. In fact the diet recommends that all your carbs come from these sources during Induction. Do you have any idea that 20 net grams of CHO from broccoli is about 5 cups which one hell of lot more than most people who aren't doing Atkins eat in a day. Induction only lasts two weeks anyway, then you can add back more carbs if you feel like it.

You are not dramatically decreasing the amount of calories you put in your body - again you are completely ignorant or misinformed.

I had a medical exam in July after starting the diet in March.

None of those things you listed (nice strawman by the way) have been shown to be associated with low carb dieting. Please cite peer-reviewed studies and not just some web site with an anonymous author to back up your claims or they are just so much more hot air from you.

Seriously, you have no idea about me and to make claims about me and how I play based on nothing more than your misguided and incorrect assumptions is just more arrogant ignorant crap from you.

Your host mom like most people who gain the weight back did so after STOPPING her low carb diet. How can you blame the diet for her gaining the weight back? If she'd stayed on it, she'd still be 100 pounds lighter.

I really think now that I'm debating with a teenager. Is that correct? No offense to teenagers because I have two of my own who are pretty smart but how about doing some actual research on a topic before showing your ignorance about it in front of thousands of people on the internet?

Click to expand...

First off this is forum.
People discuss, ask, learn from other people.
You started off calling me ignorant. I am just normal user who wants to learn from who knows better and I just wanted share what I thought of.
I actually doesn't know much as you on Atkins diet. I actually just found out it was net gram.
In the book "Big Book of Food & Nutrition" it didn't says that.
I guess i was misinformed. But thats why i am in here. To learn from my mistake and from others.
Now i know its Net Gram.
this is what's forum for, I hope you don't just go off at people, because they are misinformed and calling them ignorant. Like you are about to punish your son if they were misinformed.
You could fix if i said was wrong. Not just go banana, just tell me this is informed and bla bla . You have lived longer than me, i do respect you. But you should know better about respecting others. However I apologize of my lackness on Atkins diet.
And now i know i don't know much about Diets, and i never done it. I am more like Physiotherapy guy.
so im asking you, are you telling me, does who are on low carb diet, they have to be on diet forever? Because if they eat a ice cream, it's all over.
also my host mom kept restricting her carb, but increased 5-10 per week. I don't know the exact numbers tho. but clearly she does not eat carbs much as other women does.
also i got the disease information from this site.http://www.atkinsdietalert.org/advisory.html
I know it isn't direct to low carb diets disease since there isn't much long term articles.
But high protein and other such so on..
Anyways the things about i don't understand diet is
there is away to lose fat without restricting food that you could eat.
They just have to spend sometime in the gym...
But society is getting busier and busier. I guess that's why..

First off this is forum.
People discuss, ask, learn from other people.
You started off calling me ignorant. I am just normal user who wants to learn from who knows better and I just wanted share what I thought of.
I actually doesn't know much as you on Atkins diet. I actually just found out it was net gram.
In the book "Big Book of Food & Nutrition" it didn't says that.
I guess i was misinformed. But thats why i am in here. To learn from my mistake and from others.
Now i know its Net Gram.
this is what's forum for, I hope you don't just go off at people, because they are misinformed and calling them ignorant. Like you are about to punish your son if they were misinformed.
You could fix if i said was wrong. Not just go banana, just tell me this is informed and bla bla . You have lived longer than me, i do respect you. But you should know better about respecting others. However I apologize of my lackness on Atkins diet.
And now i know i don't know much about Diets, and i never done it. I am more like Physiotherapy guy.
so im asking you, are you telling me, does who are on low carb diet, they have to be on diet forever? Because if they eat a ice cream, it's all over.
also my host mom kept restricting her carb, but increased 5-10 per week. I don't know the exact numbers tho. but clearly she does not eat carbs much as other women does.
also i got the disease information from this site.http://www.atkinsdietalert.org/advisory.html
I know it isn't direct to low carb diets disease since there isn't much long term articles.
But high protein and other such so on..
Anyways the things about i don't understand diet is
there is away to lose fat without restricting food that you could eat.
They just have to spend sometime in the gym...
But society is getting busier and busier. I guess that's why..

Click to expand...

Oh, before we go into "he said, she said" mode, YOU started this whole thing by giving me incorrect alarmist advice on low carb diets. Just because it is a forum doesn't mean you can write whatever you want without people pointing out the parts that were written in ignorance or were incorrect altogether.

If you want to have a calm, intelligent dialog with me about diets I'm more than willing to do that. However, your first step would be to go back to what you originally wrote that I responded to and STOP DOING THAT, at least until you know more about low carb diets than you now admit that you do.

It is my understanding that atkinsdietalert is a site set up and supported by zealot vegans and I do not believe it is a credible source of information. Many vegans hate low carb diets because they incorrectly believe they are high protein and they further believe that most of that protein has to come from our little furry friends. This is in fact not the case for the vast majority of these diets. They are high fat and low carb with moderate protein. Most people should not be eating more protein on a low carb diet than they were on a standard american diet (SAD).

To answer what I think is your most important question, in my opinion YES a low carb diet is a lifetime lifestyle change. It is a way of eating (WOE) that someone would adopt with the intention of staying on it their entire life. That is my plan and it is the way the other successful low carb dieters I know see their diet.

If you just want short term weight loss then a low carb diet is terrible imo because like your host mom, if you quit the diet you will likely gain all the weight you lost back and then some. The initial gains will just be from water and glycogen as their muscles are replenished with the stuff when they start eating the extra carbs but eventually they'll likely gain back all the fat they lost as well.

No, eating one high carb item will not result in 'its all over'. Some low carb diets (go look up cyclical ketogenic diets) even have regular 'carb up' periods. I did one of these very successfully for 9 months before but it truly is a very difficult diet to stick to. The one I'm on currently which is essentially a low carb diet for as much of the time as possible is very easy to stick to.

Oh, before we go into "he said, she said" mode, YOU started this whole thing by giving me incorrect alarmist advice on low carb diets. Just because it is a forum doesn't mean you can write whatever you want without people pointing out the parts that were written in ignorance or were incorrect altogether.

If you want to have a calm, intelligent dialog with me about diets I'm more than willing to do that. However, your first step would be to go back to what you originally wrote that I responded to and STOP DOING THAT, at least until you know more about those diets than you now admit that you do.

Click to expand...

I was rude in first post? i believe i was calm. if i was i am sorry.

i was just telling you to stop diet, because what i seen and heard wasn't really good for the health.

you could just told me, why should i stop it if there is bla bla bla benefits and other facts.

not just starting off, hey you have wrong information about diets. so you are ignorant.

My professors never called me ignorant, because i have wrong information.

they believe that its one steps forward to new information and getting right information to the knowledge.

I am not perfect, so does everyone. People make mistakes and I did.

I tried to back up with my theory where i thought it was right information.

but you started calling me ignorant because i am wrong.

so linesman who makes wrong call and hawk eye correct them. does that makes them blind?

i was just telling you to stop diet, because what i seen and heard wasn't really good for the health.

you could just told me, why should i stop it if there is bla bla bla benefits and other facts.

not just starting off, hey you have wrong information about diets. so you are ignorant.

My professors never called me ignorant, because i have wrong information.

they believe that its one steps forward to new information and getting right information to the knowledge.

I am not perfect, so does everyone. People make mistakes and I did.

I tried to back up with my theory where i thought it was right information.

but you started calling me ignorant because i am wrong.

so linesman who makes wrong call and hawk eye correct them. does that makes them blind?

Click to expand...

You weren't rude so much as condescending which is equally annoying. You were giving advice to someone based on incorrect assumptions, misinformation, and ignorance. If you don't want to get criticized for doing that there is a very simple way for that to happen--don't do it.

I am not perfect either by the way and never claimed to be. You will NEVER however, see me telling anyone anywhere that low carb dieting is the only approach that works or that it is the best for everyone or even for most people. If you see me do that then feel free to justifiably blast me the way I blasted you because I would be clearly wrong to do that.

You weren't rude so much as condescending which is equally annoying. You were giving advice to someone based on incorrect assumptions, misinformation, and ignorance. If you don't want to get criticized for doing that there is a very simple way for that to happen--don't do it.

I am not perfect either by the way and never claimed to be. You will NEVER however, see me telling anyone anywhere that low carb dieting is the only approach that works or that it is the best for everyone or even for most people. If you see me do that then feel free to justifiably blast me the way I blasted you because I would be clearly wrong to do that.

No, it doesn't make the linemen blind but it does make them wrong.

Click to expand...

I do respect low carb diet. But i am wondered and im asking you.

Earlier i asked, what happen those people who stopped low carb diet. You said, they gained weight because they stopped..

Well so they have to live without candy, ice cream and others for rest of their lives?

The diet would never end? Because if you eat those you would be cheating and it isnt diet anymore..

I am wondered how people can live forever without awesome taste of sweets?

I guess thats why the 2 year research says that many people dropped out when they r testing.

Earlier i asked, what happen those people who stopped low carb diet. You said, they gained weight because they stopped..

Well so they have to live without candy, ice cream and others for rest of their lives?

The diet would never end? Because if you eat those you would be cheating and it isnt diet anymore..

I am wondered how people can live forever without awesome taste of sweets?

I guess thats why the 2 year research says that many people dropped out when they r testing.

Click to expand...

I will be glad to share with you what I know then. To answer your question, yes people do give up those things for the rest of their lives. It actually gets much easier the longer you stay on a low carb diet. One reason is that low carb diets tend to cause the release of the hormone leptin which helps control hunger and cravings for food. Leptin release imo, is one of the two key reasons the diet works as well as it does, the other being how it controls the release of insulin which inhibits fat accumulation by the body. You wrote earlier about the feeling of being full you get from certain things you eat, well on a low carb diet you feel that way all the time, or at least a large majority of the time.

Yes, giving up those things is hard for many reasons and the long-term success rate for low carb diets is low. But you know what? I have seen studies that point out the long-term success rates for ALL types of diets is pretty low, not just low carb.

One reason I think it is even harder to stay on low carb diets long term is that we are constantly bombarded with billions of dollars in ads for high carb foods through the media. That is hard for anyone to ignore. Some people just aren't mentally strong enough to overcome those constant media messages. There is also sometimes social pressure to eat high carb food when you go out with friends or to a party, where there may be plentiful high-carb treats and not much else to eat. Believe me, I've been there done that, and it can be done.

On the other hand, a low carb diet offers many delicious foods that can be eaten until you feel full. Like I said before it won't take as much low carb food to make you feel full. I always eat what I want, I NEVER count calories, and I certainly don't miss that high carb crap I used to eat at all. To be honest the couple of times I've had anything sugary in the last few months it tasted awful and I felt bad later.

As to your point that "Because if you eat those you would be cheating and it isnt diet anymore," that is not actually true. If I have a high carb meal every once and a while it won't kill me or make me gain weight if I go back to low carb afterwards. A month or so ago my wife wanted sushi so I went with her and ate some. I could have had sashimi but I decided to eat a couple of sushi rolls anyway and guess what? I'm still on the diet, still losing body fat, still playing the best tennis of my life, and still planning on doing it for the rest of my life. The diet fairy did not visit me and take away my low carb membership card because I ate more carbs one meal than I usually do. We are all human and have to make our diets work in the real world after all.

If someone doesn't think they could do a low carb diet long-term then my advice would be not to start it at all. But if you understand the diet and are committed to it, it will work great for many people. I know it has for me and several of my friends.

I think the key is looking at it as "lifestyle change" rather than "diet", as you mentioned before Beernutz....that change in mindset makes it similar to quitting smoking or any other conscious long-term decision rather than a short-term "I'll just do this until I get to my goal and then go back to normal."

I think the key is looking at it as "lifestyle change" rather than "diet", as you mentioned before Beernutz....that change in mindset makes it similar to quitting smoking or any other conscious long-term decision rather than a short-term "I'll just do this until I get to my goal and then go back to normal."

I'm still repping 1,000 lbs. on the bench press, but I stil haven't benn able to hit 1,100 lbs.

Do you think I should up my protein? I'm only eating 1,000 grams / day.

Click to expand...

Is this a joke or do you mean 1000 lbs during a set, like 200 x 10 reps?

I like the discussion on low carb, but wish we could avoid some of the insults.
Most of us are still learning and I experienced some of the problems mentioned when I did the Atkins diet 10 yrs ago. I did feel some endurance probs, along
with some cramping issues. Probably needed more fruits and vegi's, but didn't know that at the time and was eating more of them than I had in the past.
Thanks for the info!

I like this thread and would like to join in.

age 51 and hit 230lbs in Oct, 2011...about 29% body fat (bad i know)
started CrossFit and HIIT intervals
and lost about 7 lbs in 2 weeks.

I'm at about 218 lbs and 24% body fat now ( Dec) still doing HIIT,
which really is helping my tennis even with little tm on court, and
have not got to play much tennis lately due to stitches.
I'm thinking now with stitches removed I can hit the courts more
and make a move on breaking the 210 level, maybe 21% bf.

First major goal is to get under 200lbs with about 17% bf
and then on
to somewhere in the 180s like maybe 187 at 12% body fat.